Living In The Golden Age Of Television Is Fantastic Aside From The Oppressive List Of Great Shows To Watch.

There are too many good things to watch on TV. I’ve finally reached the tipping point and I’m ready to talk about it. That may sound like some typical “first world problems” but it’s super serious. Between watching the great shows I already love, the new ones just starting up, movies I want to see, documentary specials like 30 for 30, Netflix and Amazon series, fitting in some news here and there like an adult, sleeping, and attempting to maintain a career, it’s HARD keeping up. It’s time to make some tough decisions and cut ties with some old friends shows.

The question is how do I decide? FOMO is the driving force behind most of these series. Nobody wants to be that guy left out of the conversation that erupts when people talk about The Upside Down from Stranger Things. Or be the one to walk into the office on Monday morning and threaten your coworkers by informing them you’re “not caught up on Game of Thrones so nobody spoil a fucking thing for me”. It’s a terrible way to live but all of us have been there and it’s becoming way too common. Off the top of my head I can think of a few guidelines to help me cut back. I’m talking about my own life but you can take my advice too. I’m here to help.

First and foremost I need to recognize when I’m just going through the motions. Like I should cut out anything older than 4 seasons unless it’s a really great show like Thrones. After 4 seasons it should be clear what’s going on and unless it has my full attention there’s really no point in carrying on, which brings me to my next point..

I think the biggest problem is these shows hook you and you feel obligated to stick with it. Almost as if not finishing it would somehow be rude. If anything noteworthy happens I’ll hear about it and I can quickly catch up.

30 minute shows are easier to cut ties with than the hour-long ones because they feel like less of an investment. On the other hand I can keep up with twice as many 30 minute shows for the same time spent on hour long ones. Oh but on the third hand I would be able to catch up on the 30 minute ones twice as fast… Lots of things to think about… maybe I’ll just skip this.

Binge hard. Set aside a day every now and then to buckle up and power through a ton of episodes. Pro tip – avoid watching an entire season uninterrupted. Watch a couple hours worth of one show then mix in another to spice things up. Episodes are intended to be viewed over an extended amount time. The brain needs to breath and let information sink in before diving right into the next one. It will improve the viewing experience but also make you feel more productive while you sit on your couch surrounded by blankets and snacks for 12 hours.

Avoid mindless flicking. I’m very guilty of doing this too often. I know I have a bunch of shows on my DVR to catch up on but I end up flicking around to see whats on. I’ll end up on a movie I’ve seen a thousand times, get sucked into a show on HGTV because that shit’s like quicksand, or just keep jumping around the channels until I’m ready for bed. My time would be much better spent if I either turn off the TV and got something productive done like an adult, or use my brain and make use of that DVR I’ve been paying for. Simple stuff.

Will I actually change my ways? Will I say “No! I will not watch Grays Anatomy because it has painfully run it’s course and has relied on outrageous story lines to cover up its lack of creativity.”?… Probably not. I’ll just continue to bitch about how behind I am on things and let the networks decide when I should stop watching by simply cancelling them. But the cornerstone of our generation is making empty promises to improve ourselves. So I will hold my head high and pretend to be better going forward.